Machines for dispensing disposable tickets, such as paper tickets, usually store the tickets in the form of rolls or as fanfold paper. According to these two methods of storage, the tickets are stuck together in the form of strips. This system has the advantage of being able to dispense continuously but occupies a lot of space. A guillotine cutter cuts the ticket on request just before it is dispensed. Unfortunately, this type of dispensing machine is not entirely suitable for disposable contactless smart tickets called “contactless tickets”. Actually, the production efficiency of contactless tickets is less than that of ordinary disposable tickets considering their technology that requires more precision. The method of storing tickets in continuous rolls does not allow for the removal of defective tickets during production and thus all defective tickets, about 5% of the lot, are retained. With every ticket being checked prior to it being issued to the client and every defective ticket being directed to a waste storage location, the large proportion of defective tickets increases the mean delivery time of a ticket to the client. Furthermore, the storage of tickets in continuous rolls and the large proportion of defective tickets requires a significant volume within the dispensing machine.
In order to reduce the number of defective tickets, one solution consists in discarding them before they are inserted into the dispensing machine. This solution therefore requires the storage of tickets in the form of stacks in the dispenser and it also helps overcome space problems. This type of dispenser exists for dispensing plastic cards or “polyester” tickets whose physical characteristics, such as the elasticity, are similar to that of plastic. The polyester cards or tickets are stored one by one in stacks and are unstacked as they are dispensed. Certain systems operate by pushing the card with a blade that presses on the thickness of the card to unstack the cards. Other systems bend and pinch the card by using the stiff and elastic properties of the card. Apart from the fact that these dispensing systems where the cards are stored in stacks save a significant amount of space compared with a roller dispensing system, they also allow tickets to be reused, i.e. the re-dispensing of tickets already distributed once, which is impossible when the tickets are stored in rolls or as fanfold paper.
Unfortunately, these methods for unstacking single tickets are not suitable for disposable contactless smart paper tickets. Actually, this type of ticket has very specific physical characteristics compared with ordinary disposable tickets. Its surface is not flat but is raised where the chip is located. Furthermore, unlike the plastic card, the ticket is not elastic enough to fully recover its initial configuration when the pressure exerted on the ticket is released. Finally, such a ticket may be crinkled along its axes. There are therefore no dispensing devices suitable for contactless smart tickets and thus, in addition, there do not exist any automatic dispensing devices for contactless smart tickets. As a result, dispensing as well as customizing contactless smart tickets currently requires manual intervention.